French Roast
by Kaazoo
Summary: Tea and Yami are going out, but Yami doesn't want to. Yugi wants Yami to go out with Tea, and Tea wants Yami to go out with her. However, the Pharaoh has his eyes on a certin CEO that we all love.
1. Chapter 1

_"Yami, will you go out with me?"_

It would be safe to say that Yami had no idea how he had ended up in this particular place with this particular person. Of course, it wasn't that he didn't like ice cream, quiet then opposite in fact, it was just that he didn't want to be here with this person.

"Yami, be a gentlemen and go order for us. What would you like?"

"Frankly, I don't care."

"Well, then why don't you get a small sherbet for us to split. Just as long as it doesn't have chocolate, I don't mind." Yami, who had always been a fan of chocolate and had never liked the fruity stuff, felt his left eye start to twitch. It was bad enough that he was here at the ice cream parlor on a date. It was bad enough that he was here at the ice cream parlor on a date with Tea. But there was no way that he was going to share a bowl of apricot sherbet with her. Damn it all, he wanted chocolate. Without saying a word, he slumped off to join the really long line for ice cream. With luck, the ice cream parlor would be closed before he got to the front of the line.

The door to the parlor opened, and the annoying little bell rung.

"Thank you so much for taking me out for ice cream, Seto!" Seto? Yami felt his heart skip a beat, and he turned to face the door. Sure enough, standing in the doorway, seeming to glow under the florescent lights of the ice cream parlor, was Seto 'drop dead gorgeous-Kaiba.'

"Kaiba!" Yami called, waving a little so the billionaire was sure to notice him. "Long time no see. How have you been?" 'Perfect, now he'll have to walk up here to talk to me.' Yami thought. 'He can't ignore me without seeming rude. Not that he really cares, but still, I can hope.' Kaiba took his little brother by the hand and walked up to Yami.

"Hasn't been that long. I saw you at school four hours ago."

"Oh, yeah. It was just four hours ago, wasn't it?" 'Damn, he still can't tell us apart.' One of the downsides to sharing a body was the fact that the object of his affections couldn't tell him apart from his shorter, and decidedly straighter, half. "So, you want cuts?" Where that term came from, Yami had no idea. He knew, however, that if Kaiba accepted his invitation, he would be stuck in line with him. The line behind them gave out a loud moan of protest.

"I think it will be best if Mokuba and I go to the back." Kaiba said, moving away from Yami.

"I'll come with you!" Yami extracted himself from line, and his place was immediately lost.

"But Yugi, you were five people from the front."

"I know. I'd much rather be in the back of the line."

"I wouldn't. What flavor of ice cream are you getting, anyway?" Mokuba piped in.

"I want chocolate, but I'm getting apricot."

"I thought you hated sherbet." Kaiba said.

"I do." Inwardly, Yami was cheering about the fact that Kaiba knew he hated sherbet.

"Then why on earth are you getting some?"

"Because my date insisted we get something to share. And she-" Here, Yami held up the quote fingers. "-Can't eat ice cream, she has to watch her figure." Kaiba seemed to get rather uncomfortable, when the subject of Yami's date got brought up, but he masked it well.

"Since when do you take anyone's orders?" He snapped.

"You know, you're right. Screw sherbet!" Yami turned to the pimply boy who was waiting to take their orders. "I want the biggest bowl you have, filled with the most chocolate you have, topped with the most stuff you have. But no nuts." He added as an after thought. "And the smallest size you have in apricot sherbet." Yami stepped back from the cashier, and waited for Kaiba to order.

"I want a sugar cone with two scoops of cookie dough and a waffle cone with one scoop of vanilla."

"Will that be together?" The pimply boy asked, and Yami found himself pondering how Kaiba would answer that. Without thinking, Kaiba slide his credit card across the table to the boy with a curt nod.

"Oh, thanks Kaiba. I could have-"

"Don't mention it. Enjoy your date." With that, Kaiba stomped off, dragging Mokuba along, the latter of which was happily licking his ice cream cone. Having no more reasons to stall at the line, he walked back to the booth that he shared with Tea. He plunked Tea's teaspoon of sherbet in front of her, set his own heaping portion in front of where he would be sitting, and sat down.

"I thought we were going to share something." Tea said, looking at his ice cream.

"I decided that I wanted chocolate."

"Oh, I see." Tea looked down at her own food, before trying to start a conversation again. "So, uh, was that Kaiba I saw in here earlier?"

"How many people wear trench coats in June?"

"Yami, are you ok? You're not acting like yourself."

"Maybe I'm not." Yami picked up his ice cream, dropped the remainder in the trash, and walked out of the ice cream parlor into the rain. Tea sat, shocked, and put her face in her hands as she started to cry.

As Yami set off towards the Kame Game shop, an enraged Yugi, in semi-transparent form, blocked his way.

"You had no right to do that do her!" Yugi yelled.

"Then you go out with her."

"I can't, she doesn't love me."

"I can't either, I don't love her!"

"You could at least play along with it."

"And what would that accomplish?"

"At least she would be happy."

"Oh yes, everything Tea wants."

"Grow up, Yami! You're not Pharaoh anymore. You can't always get what you want."

"You know what? I don't want to have this conversation anymore. You can apologize to her in the morning, if that's what you want." Yami disappeared into his soul room, leaving Yugi with the body, which had fallen face down into the mud.

"Damn it, Yami, you could have at least waited until I got back into the body before throwing your hissy fit." From inside the puzzle, Yugi heard several doors open and slam closed as Yami stomped around in his soul room. It was going to be a long night.

_"Yugi, can I talk to Yami for a minute?"_

The next day at school, Yugi made a point to show up early, so he would have time to apologize to Tea. He sat at his desk in the classroom, and played with a rubix cube while he waited for Tea to arrive. However, he was so upset from his argument with Yami last night, that he was having trouble getting it right.

/No, no. Put that one there. No, not that one, the other one./ Yami instructed out of habit from his soul room.

/Shut up./

/Fine, don't solve it./

"You know, maybe I won't wear the puzzle today." Yugi said to himself, as he shoved the puzzle into his backpack. Tea walked in.

"Oh, hi Yugi." She said, sitting down next to him.

"Hi Tea. Listen, I wanted to apologize for Yami's behavior last night."

"Don't worry about it. Everyone just needs their space sometimes.

Oh, where's the puzzle?"

"Yami just needed his space." Yugi smirked.

"I see. Well, when he decides to come out again, will you ask him if he's available on Saturday?"

"Oh, don't worry. He's available." Yugi said, glancing down at his backpack.

"Oh, I'm so glad." Tea smiled as Joey and Tristan entered the room.

"Hey Yug." Joey said. "Oh, wait a minute! Something's different about you. Did you part your hair differently?"

"Joey, I never part my hair."

"Oh. Did you get your uniform cleaned?"

"I wear a clean one every day."

"You idiot, he's not wearing the puzzle!" Tristan whacked Joey on the head.

"Right. So where is the puzzle?"

"It's in my backpack, Yami threw a hissy fit and I didn't want him complaining all day."

"Man, he must be in a really bad mood. I can't remember the last time you weren't wearing the puzzle." It was at that moment that Seto Kaiba graced the room with his presence.

"Yugi." He said by way of greeting. "Where's the puzzle?"

"I don't know. I just didn't feel like wearing it today." Yugi said, and that was the end of his evolvement with Seto Kaiba for the day.

_"Sure, let me go get him."_

School was out, Joey and Tristan both had detention and Tea had work, so Yugi was walking home alone. About two blocks from school, Yugi found himself surrounded by a nasty looking group of thugs.

"Hey, squirt, hand over your money and no one gets hurt."

"Um, I don't have any money." Yugi said, backing away from the thugs.

"Well, that's too bad. You're going to wish you had some in a minute." The leader signaled to the group of thugs and two of them grabbed Yugi under his arms, and the other grabbed his backpack and emptied the contents onto the ground. Miscellaneous books and papers spilled out into a pile, and on top of them all sat the Millennium puzzle. The guy who emptied the backpack started looking through the contents, trying to see if Yugi had been telling the truth.

"Damn, Tetsuo, the brat was telling the truth. There's no cash in here!" Backpack man walked over to where Yugi was being held and hit him once in the gut. When Yugi bent over in pain, the thug gave him an uppercut to the chin. Yugi passed out, and the two holding him started to laugh.

"Does the shiny gold thing mean anything to you?" The leader shouted, waving around the Millennium puzzle, which he had picked up.

"Oh, right boss. You're so smart." The other thugs said in unison, dropping Yugi on the ground.

"That's why I'm the leader. Leave the kid and let's ditch this place." Tetsuo turned on his heel and was about to walk away, when a fist connected with his face. As Tetsuo slumped to his knees, Seto Kaiba jerked the puzzle out of his hands, and turned his icy glare to the other thugs. The three ran away, screaming for mother. Kaiba placed the books and papers back in Yugi's backpack, put the puzzle around Yugi's neck, and helped him to his car. He ordered his chauffeur to drive to the Kame Game shop, where he helped the now semi-conscious Yugi inside.

"Kame Game shop, how may I help-Yugi!" Grandpa said, rushing over to Yugi. "What did you do to him, you monster!" Grandpa rounded on Kaiba.

"It's alright, Grandpa. Kaiba saved me." Yugi managed to smile, even though his lip was bleeding all over the floor.

"I won't bother you anymore." Kaiba said, and he turned and left the game shop before they could say anything to him.

"I think I'll go to bed." Yugi said, faking a yawn.

"Are you sure? I could help you dress your wounds."

"It's ok, I can do it myself. See you in the morning Grandpa."

"Goodnight, Yugi."

_"Er, hello Tea."_

Yugi sat on the bed in his soul room, and Yami was standing over him with a roll of gauze.

"Ow! That hurts!" Yugi cried.

"Yugi, you should be more careful." Yami said.

"I told them the truth. I didn't have any money."

"I know, you didn't. Maybe I should teach you how to fight."

"Joey's already tried. Believe me, it was painful."

"Maybe Kaiba could teach you." Yami sighed happily before continuing. "On second thought, I don't want Kaiba to know you can't fight. It might reflect badly on me."

"Yami, lately you've been acting like you think of Kaiba as more than a rival."

"Of course I do, we called a truce with him after Battle City."

"Yeah, but I mean, more than that too."

"Are you accusing me of-no!"

"Sorry, I just thought. What with the dreamy little fan girl sighs

and all-"

"I'm not gay, Yugi."

"There's nothing wrong with that."

"Wait, I'm confused. Nothing wrong with me not being gay, or nothing wrong with me being gay?"

"So you are gay!"

"My head hurts."

"I'm so glad we're talking again!" Yugi said, and he hugged Yami around his waist.

_"Hello, Yami."_

Once again, Yugi was at school early, only this time it was to thank Kaiba for saving his life, instead of apologizing to Tea for Yami's snotty behavior. One by one, Yugi's group of friends came into the room and the started their usual morning chatter. Finally, Kaiba came in, and Yugi rushed over to him before he could sit down.

"I want to thank you for saving my life, and my puzzle, last night."

"It was nothing."

/He's so heroic./ Yami sighed from inside his soul room.

"Shut up." Yugi said, not knowing he'd spoken aloud.

"I beg your pardon?" Kaiba said.

"Oh, I'm sorry Kaiba. I wasn't talking to you."

/Shoot; now he's going to hate me./

"I still say you're gay."

"What?" Kaiba said, a massive blush spreading across his cheeks.

"Not you, not you!" Yugi said, trying to sound innocent.

"Humph." Kaiba stomped off, and sat down at his desk. Joey, who had been monitoring the whole conversation, rushed over.

"Did you see Kaiba doing something? Is that why you think he's gay?" He said, poking Yugi repeatedly.

"Why, mutt? Interested in a date? You're not my type." Kaiba snapped from his desk.

"So you are gay!" Kaiba chose to ignore this comment and went back to pretending to read his book.

/Do you think it could be true/

"I told you, you were gay." Joey's eyes widened a little at that statement, and he stared at his shorter friend. "I mean, not you, Joey! God, I'm not going to say anything from now on."

After much pestering, Yugi finally gave in to Joey's questioning. "It's not you, or Kaiba that I think is gay. It's Yami."

/How dare you! I am not gay/

"You are too."

/Yugi, you may want to focus on the link a little more./

"Really? What did you see Yami doing? Huh, huh, huh?"

"Nothing, it's more like what I heard him thinking."

/You have no right to tell my thoughts to your friends, Yugi./ Tea, who neither of them realized was overhearing this conversation, ran to the girls bathroom, not to be seen or heard from the rest of the day.


	2. Chapter 2

_"Yami, I've had a crush on you since Yugi first got the puzzle."_

/God Yami, you should just admit that you like him already./

/I can't! It's a pride issue./

/So you do like him./

/I do not/

"Just admit it already, you like him and you're gay!" The teacher, who had been staring at Yugi waiting for an answer to a question Yugi hadn't heard, started. At the same time, Kaiba's books fell to the floor.

"What did you say?" The teacher asked.

"I'm so sorry Mr. Kawasaki! I wasn't talking to you!"

"Well, Mr. Kaiba seems to think you were talking to him."

"I wasn't talking to him either." Kaiba, who had recovered his books, glared at the teacher, who didn't push the subject. Mr. Kawasaki went back to teaching his subject, and Yugi went back to talking to Yami.

/Why am I having such a problem talking to you through the link/

/I have no idea, I can't remember anything like this happening before./

/It's not like you can remember much of anything./

/Now that was below the belt./

/Sorry./

/I think it's better if we don't risk using the link until we're safely out of class./

/Ok then./ And Yugi could finally pay attention to his teacher, not that he did. After class, Kaiba pulled him aside.

"I want to talk to you about some of the things you said earlier."

"About that. I'm really sorry, I wasn't talking to you."

"You've said that before, but I still can't figure out who you were talking to."

"Would you believe me if I said the ancient spirit that lives in the puzzle?"

"Would you blame me if I said no?"

"Not really."

"Then why did you tell me that?"

"Because it's the truth."

"I don't care if you think it's the truth, I don't believe it."

"Ok then, Kaiba. I guess I'll see you after school." Yugi started to walk off, but stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Wait, Yugi." Kaiba spun Yugi around and pushed him gently up against the lockers. Kaiba leaned in close and Yugi could feel Kaiba's breath on his cheek.

"W-what is it, Kaiba?" Yugi tried to squirm away from Kaiba. Kaiba closed his eyes tightly, shook his head, then opened his eyes and walked away as if nothing had happened.

Yugi felt sweat on his forehead, and he slid down the locker until he was sitting on the floor. Maybe it was just his imagination, but it looked like Kaiba had been about to kiss him.

/So close, yet so far./ Yami wailed from inside his soul room.

"Yug! Did I just see what I thought I just saw?" Joey came running down the hallway and stopped in front of Yugi. "That bastard, I'll go get him for you!" And Joey once again ran off down the hall before Yugi could stop him.

"Hey Kaiba!" Joey yelled, trying desperately to get Kaiba's attention. "How dare you do that to Yugi?"

"And what exactly is it that I did to Yugi?"

"What did you do to Yugi? You practically molested him!" At the last statement, everyone in the hallway turned to look at the two. Kaiba's eyebrows shot up into his hairline before he regained him composure.

"What, jealous, mutt?" He sneered.

"No-NO!" Joey shouted.

"Need to say it twice to convince yourself?"

"No!"

"Third time's a charm, idiot." Kaiba turned on his heel and walked away, leaving a stunned Joey to deal with the crowd.

By sheer coincidence, the girls' bathroom that Tea was hiding in was right next to where the two boys had been fighting, and she heard every word.

_"I didn't know anyone even knew I existed back then."_

"Hi Mokuba, may I speak to Kaiba please?"

"Oh wow, sure Tea, I'll go get him." Mokuba opened the door a little wider to allow Tea into the entry hall. He then disappeared down another hallway and returned a few minutes later with his big brother in tow.

"What do you want?" Kaiba asked shortly.

"You molested Yugi!" Tea's fist met with Kaiba's face.

"Is there anything else you want? No? Good, there's the door." With that he shoved Tea none too kindly onto the front step and slammed the door behind her.

"What was that all about?" Mokuba asked.

"A misunderstanding. Now, I have to go get ready for school." So in thirty minutes, he was walking up the steps too school, a spectacular bruise blooming on his left cheek. About half way up the steps, he found his way was blocked by Tea, who was waiting for him.

"Look, I'm sorry about your boyfriend." Kaiba snapped, side stepping her and walking up the stairs.

"He's not my boyfriend!"

"Really?" Kaiba turned back to stare at her. "Then explain why you at the ice cream parlor him, on what he called a date."

"I wasn't with Yugi, I was with Yami." Kaiba had had enough of this game, and was sick of people telling of about Yami, so he decided to end his conversation with Tea.

"Well, who ever you were with, they didn't seem to enjoy their date." With that, he walked into the school building and left Tea standing speechless.

Homeroom was noisy as always, with everyone ignoring the poor teacher whom was trying to take roll. Kaiba had his nose buried in a thick book written in a foreign language, but no one seemed to notice he was holding it upside down. Well, no one except for a Pharaoh trapped in a golden puzzle, but said Pharaoh noticed everything about the billionaire.

"That's a pretty nasty bruise Kaiba's got going on over there." Tristan said.

"Wonder where he got it." Joey said. Tea shifted feet uncomfortably, and changed the subject.

"Well, Yugi, would you mind if I spoke to Yami for a moment?" Yugi nodded, looking too embarrassed to say anything. A second later, the blush disappeared unnaturally fast, and Yugi seemed to glare at Kaiba.

"What do you want, Tea?"

"I want to know what happened yesterday. I would ask Yugi, but I'm afraid it would be traumatizing for him." Kaiba snorted to himself and went back to eavesdropping on their conversation.

"Absolutely nothing happened." What could have happened yesterday that was traumatizing to Yugi? Almost nothing had happened yesterday, except for Kaiba not kissing them, but that would hardly traumatize Yugi.

"Then why was Joey going on about Kaiba molesting Yugi?"

"Joey seems to think my bubble is bigger than it is. I believe that is the phrase you use."

"Your bubble?"

"You know, my personal space bubble? That's what you call it, right?"

"Then why was Joey saying that Kaiba was molesting you?"

"I hardly call 2.795 inches from my face molesting me."

"You measured?"

"No, I'm just really good with math."

"No offence, Yami, but you suck at math." Joey said, breaking into Yami and Tea's conversation. Kaiba quirked a brow in thought. 'I thought math was Yugi's best subject.'

"Does knowing the exact measurements of Kaiba's face from yours yesterday have anything to do with the fact that Yugi thinks you're gay?"

"Wow, Tea's being really catty today." Tristan whispered to Joey.

"If I'm gay, then why do you want to go out with me so badly?"

"I love you, Yami, doesn't that mean anything to you?"

"No, I'm gay, of course it wouldn't."

"Are you sure you're not bi?" Joey asked. Yami seized him around the neck and started to shake.

"No, I'm gay dammit!"

"Mr. Mutou, is there anything you would like to share with the class?" The teacher snapped from the front of the room.

"Yes, in fact. There is." Yami climbed up onto Yugi's desk, and started shouting. "I'm gay, I feel nothing for the person I'm going out with, and the person I do love is-" He was cut off mid sentence, and his whole demeanor seemed to change.

"I'm not gay! How could he say that! You're ruining my life, Yami!" Yugi cried, getting off the desk as fast as possible.

"Mr. Mutou, I think you should speak with the counselor." The teacher snapped, not at all pleased with Yami and Yugi's outbursts.

"But I'm not gay!" Yugi said.

"That's not what you said a minute ago, now run along." The teacher said, shoving a note into Yugi's hand and pushing him out the door.

"Stupid little faggot, I always knew he was gay." The kid next to Kaiba told his friend. "You could tell by the way he dressed and-" Whatever else the idiot was going to say was cut short when his head connected solidly with his desk.

"There is nothing wrong with being gay." Kaiba said, holding his neglected foreign language book above the kid's head.

_"I knew almost from the beginning that you were different than Yugi."_

Yugi was walking home; cursing to himself about the psychobabble the counselor had put him through.

/I'm really sorry, Yugi. I have no idea what came over me. I really didn't mean to get you in so much trouble, I was just so angry. Please don't take apart the puzzle./

"Don't worry about it, I'm just upset."

/About Tea/

"Yeah."

/Sorry about that. You know, you really should just tell her how you feel and get me off the hook./

"Oh sure, anything for you, Yami." Yugi said sarcastically.

/I didn't mean for it to sound that way./

"Hey boss, look a this freak. He keeps talking to himself." Came a voice from behind Yugi.

"I don't believe it. It's the same freak from a few days ago!"

"We'll get him this time. Go get him boys!" This voice Yugi recognized as the leader of the gang of thugs that had attacked him a few days ago. Because Yugi was in danger, Yami switched with him, and he turned around to face the thugs.

"Stop!" He said, holding a hand out in front of him. The thugs skidded to a halt.

"What are you waiting for? Kill him!" The boss screamed, but the others didn't move.

"He seems different than he was before." One of the thugs muttered under his breath.

"Let's play a game." Yami said, lowering his hand.

"Great idea. I know good one. Let's rearrange Starfish boy's face." The boss said.

Meanwhile, Kaiba was walking down the other side of the street, and happened to glance over at the scene that was unfolding opposite him.

It appeared to him that the same gang of thugs that Kaiba have saved Yugi from just days ago had cornered him. Kaiba started across the street to again save the life of Yugi, but he stopped when he heard Yugi speak.

"The rules of the game are simple. You have one minute to take the puzzle from me, but you cannot touch me. If you win, my life and my puzzle are yours. However, if you lose or you break the rules then you have to play a penalty game as punishment."

"You fool. Did you actually think the only way we could kill you was with our fists?" One of the thugs said, taking out a knife. The other thugs followed suit. "We could just slice you to ribbons with our knives! That counts, right?" He added as an afterthought.

"As long as you don't touch me yourselves, anything goes." Yami said.

"Why do you care about the rules of his game? Just kill him you idiots!" The boss yelled. The thugs nodded and circled around Yami, knives held at the ready.

"How hard can it be for three of us to kill one shrimp?" A thug asked his comrades. The first hugs smirked at his friend remarks and threw himself at Yami, knife held out. Yami sidestepped and the knife missed its target by a good two feet.

"Tick tock, tick tock, forty seconds left." Yami commented from where he was lounging against a brick wall.

"You brat!" The second thug shouted, before he went after Yami himself. His knife ended up embedded in the brick wall, but Yami was no where near where it had landed.

"Thirty seconds." The third one launched his attacked and missed like all the others. The second one had failed to recover his knife from the wall, and signaled to the first thug that they should attack simultaneously. The third thug had over compensated after missing Yami and had landed on his face. He was currently cursing at Yami from the ground while

Yami stood there and smirked, thus he did not notice the other two. Kaiba, however, did.

"Yugi!" Yami turned to see Kaiba running across the street. Despite the fact he was in the middle of a knife fight, Yami felt his heart skip a beat and he paused. The first thug took advantage of Yami's distraction and lunged at him with his knife. Yami saw him coming out of the corner of his eye but couldn't react quickly enough and was cut across the cheek. Yami spun to face the second thug, but again his timing was off and the second thug landed a punch to his stomach. Kaiba arrived just in time to catch Yami as he fell backwards from the blow.

"Yugi, are you alright?" Kaiba asked frantically. Yami nodded and pulled himself out of Kaiba's grip. Yami walked the blood off of his face, and pointed at the second thug.

"You broke the rules, that means all of you lose. As punishment for blindly following one who would lead you down the wrong path, you will turn on your false leader. Punishment Game: Revenge!" He held his hand out, open palmed, at the three thugs. Darkness enveloped the alleyway and three thugs started to scream. Yami turned on his heel, grabbed Kaiba's hand, and led him out of the alleyway. As they walked away from the alley, they continued to hear screaming, but it was no longer the thugs.

"What did you do back there?" Kaiba pulled his hand out of Yami's grip and stopped walking.

"A simple Shadow Game." Yami replied, turning to look at Kaiba.

"Shadow Game? Don't give me that crap. Last time I saw you with those thugs, you could barely hold your own, let alone beat them."

"Ah, but last time I wasn't there to help Yugi."

"What are you talking about? How can Yugi be there to help Yugi?"

"Do we need to go over this again?" Yami sighed. "I am Yami. The other one is Yugi. Yami. Yugi. Yami. Yugi. I thought you were a genius Kaiba, this shouldn't be that hard to understand!" Yami shouted the last part, looking extremely frustrated. Kaiba opened his mouth to say something, but closed it before he said anything. There were now two people standing in front of him, looking alike, but different at the same time. The twins looked at each other, looking equally shocked and then, once again, there was only one person standing in front of him.

"What the hell was that?" Kaiba demanded.

"I have no idea. Will you excuse me for a moment?" Yami's eyes glazed over.

/Yugi, do you have any idea what just happened/

/No, but for a minute it felt like we were separate./

/That may explain the deterioration of the link./

/What do you mean/

/It's just a theory, I'll explain later./ with that, Yami blinked and turned to face Kaiba, who was staring at his watch impatiently.

"Why did you feel the need to come to my rescue?" Yami asked Kaiba. Kaiba turned bright red, and stuttered incoherently for a minute before snapping out a response.

"Well, you didn't seem to disappointed to see me coming to your rescue." Kaiba turned and started to walk off, still blushing.

"Wait, Kaiba!" Yami caught him by the arm. "Thank you."

"It was nothing." Kaiba said, "You probably wouldn't have gotten cut at all if it hadn't been for me." Kaiba reached out and brushed his thumb over Yami's cut. Yami flushed and blinked a few times. There was an awkward silence for a moment before Kaiba jerked his hand back, pulled his arm out of Yami's grip, and turned to walk away.

"I have work." Was all he said by way of explanation.

"I think I owe you ice cream." Yami called after him. Kaiba turned back to face him and smirked.

"On second thought, work can wait."


	3. Chapter 3

"_How so?" _

"One vanilla and one chocolate, please." Yami handed the person who had taken their order a twenty and turned to go sit down.

"Wait, sir, your change!" The cashier waved the bills in the air, and Yami went back to retrieve them.

"Oh yes, I do get change!" Yami said, embarrassed, before grabbing his change and the ice cream and heading over to the booth where Kaiba was sitting.

"What was that about?" Kaiba asked Yami, taking his ice cream.

"Stupid modern money." Was the only reply that Yami gave, before he attacked his chocolate ice cream. They ate in silence for a few minutes, before Kaiba reached over with his spoon and stole a bite of Yami's ice cream.

"Complex, bitter-sweet, and dark." Kaiba set his spoon back in his bowl and leaned back in his seat with his arms crossed, smirking at Yami. Yami, in turn, reached over and grabbed a bite of Kaiba's ice cream.

"Smooth, sophisticated and tasteful."

"_Something about you just made my heart skip a beat." _

"So, where were you last night, Yugi?" Tea asked. "I tried to call you a bunch of times, but Grandpa kept saying you weren't home and he didn't know where you were."

"Yeah, and how'd you get that scratch on your face anyway? You aren't being picked on, are you?" Joey chimed in.

"It's no big deal. I'm sure they won't bother me anymore." Yugi said, trying to change the subject.

"Yugi, if they had knives, it's a big deal. You might not be the only one they were bullying." Tea said, looking worried.

"You're always preaching about having faith in each other, shouldn't you have a little faith in him?" Seto Kaiba said, looming out of nowhere.

"Don't you have anything better to do than spy on us?" Joey snapped. "Oh, that's right, you don't have any friends."

"I don't need a pack to hide behind, you stupid mutt." Kaiba stalked off to his own desk and sat down. The teacher began to lecture, calling students up to the board to demonstrate a problem every so often. Eventually, he called Yugi up to the board to work out a complicated trig problem. Yami, who had decided that the puzzle was boring, followed Yugi up to the board in his transparent form, which only Yugi could see. Yugi picked up a piece of chalk and Yami seated himself on the chalk tray. Yugi began to work out the problem, but before he could get very far, there was a large crash and chalk rolled everywhere. Someone in the back row screamed. Yugi turned to see what had caused the commotion and saw Yami, seated among the broken remnants of the chalk tray, looking confused.

"Y-Y-Yami?" Yugi stuttered, before reached out to touch him to see if he was real.

"What in heaven's name?" The teacher exclaimed, rushing forward to make sure that Yugi was alright. Yugi's friends jumped out of their chairs and rushed forward. Kaiba stayed in his desk, but craned his next so he could see Yami on the floor. Yami, who was surrounded by a crowd of people, seemed to be ignoring them all and was staring at a piece of chalk in his hands. Yugi knelt next to Yami and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Yami turned to look at Yugi, looking extremely confused.

"Yugi, I'm solid." Right after that statement, the piece of chalk Yami was holding clattered to the ground, and Yami vanished. Of course, Yugi could still see him, but no one else could. Yugi fell forward onto his outstretched arm, and toppled through Yami. He stood up, brushed chalk dust off his pants, and faced the crowd of people wanting to know what had just happened.

"Mr. Mutou, w-what on earth just happened?" the teacher stuttered.

"What do you mean?" Yugi tried to answer coolly. "I guess I just leaned on the chalk tray a little too much, that's all." Yugi pressed his fingers together trying to look innocent. Yugi knew his classmates wouldn't buy it, but he had no idea what else he could say. Not like the teacher would buy: He's the ancient spirit that lives in my necklace.

"I'm going to the teacher's lounge, and I'll send someone to watch you in a few minutes. Until then, I want you all to be doing your homework." Under normal circumstances, the class would have protested that he hadn't assigned them any homework yet. However, they were still in shock and remained silent as the teacher left the room. Most of the students returned to their seats, save for Joey, Tristan and Tea, who stayed to talk to Yugi.

"So what really happened, Yugi?" Tea asked.

"I don't know, it only happened once before, but it appears Yami and I are starting to separate. That's Yami theory anyway. He told me last night after we got home."

"From where?" Joey asked, leaning on the chalkboard in exactly the same place Yami was.

"I hate it when this happens. Now I have to move." Yami muttered, before his eyes lit up with what he thought was a wonderful idea. He got up, walked across the room, and without a word plopped himself down on Kaiba's desk. Kaiba looked up from the book he had been pretending to read - he seemed to be doing that a lot lately - and shivered. Yugi decided it would be best to ignore Yami for now and answer Joey's question.

"I was eating ice cream…" Yugi trailed off, not sure that Yami or Kaiba wanted him to divulge this information.

"Our ikkle Yugi has a girl-friend." Tristan teased.

"No, it's not like that! I just felt like ice cream is all. I went by myself!" Yugi said. Kaiba's head snapped up at the last few words, not sure why he was suddenly so insulted.

"It's crazy, but I think someone's sitting on my desk." Kaiba muttered to himself, extending his hand over his desk so that it went right through Yami. Yami clasped his hands under his chin.

"Damn it, just because you can't see me doesn't mean you can stick your hand through me!" In response to Yami's exclamation, a shiver ran up and down Kaiba's spine and he sank down into his seat. 'Why do I feel like this?' Kaiba wondered. Yugi turned around and saw Yami sitting on Kaiba's desk, his face an inch from Kaiba's nose, and assumed the worst.

/Yami! Stop molesting Kaiba!" Yugi yelled. Unfortunately, the only word that had been said inside the link was 'Yami' and the rest had been shouted for the whole class to hear. Instantly, every eye was on Kaiba, who blushed an even brighter shade of red. Kaiba stood up and left the room.

"Yugi, was Yami really…" Joey trailed off, not quite sure how to voice the question. Tea sunk down to her knees and put her face in her hands. There was really no way she could deny it anymore. Out in the hall, Kaiba had come to a stop in front of a water fountain, and splashed some water on his face to bring his blush down. Yami, still in spirit form, watched from a few feet away. Once Kaiba was convinced that his face was back to its normal color, he turned to go back to class, only to find Yami standing in front of him. He jumped.

"Yugi, I didn't hear you follow me." He said, trying to sound collected.

"You can see me?" Yami asked, holding his hand out in front of him, as if to inspect that he was indeed solid once again.

"Why wouldn't I be able to see you?" Kaiba asked.

"Just a few minutes ago, you stuck your hand clean through me, trying to find out what was on your desk."

"Bullshit. There was nothing there, and you were standing over by the chalkboard."

"Well, if you put it that way, I still am standing over by the chalkboard. You can check for yourself, if you like." Kaiba snorted and looked through the window that was in the door into the classroom. Sure enough, Yugi was still standing by the chalkboard, trying to console Tea. Kaiba spun on his heel to see if Yami was still behind him.

"See-" Yami started to say, but was cut off before he could finish when he vanished. Kaiba looked up and down the hall, trying to find where Yami had gone. Failing at that, he threw open the door.

"Yugi, what are you doing to me?" Kaiba asked, ignoring the weird looks he was receiving from the rest of the class.

"What do you mean, Kaiba?"

"I just met you out in the hall, and you insisted that you were still here. So I come here and find out you are here, and when I turn around, you disappear!"

"Kaiba, what are you smoking?" Joey asked. Kaiba just glared at him.

"I demand an explanation. I refuse to be toyed with in this manner." Tea stood up and glared at Kaiba.

"Neither Yugi or Yami knows what's going on, so don't accuse them of things you cannot understand!" Luckily, the substitute chose that moment to walk in before things could get violent.

"Ok everyone, take your seats. We didn't really have time to prepare a thorough lesson plan, so why don't you just take out your books and read until it's time for English class?" The class rolled their eyes, but pulled out their books and started to read. Yugi, not wanting to risk talking out loud instead of using the link, took out a piece of paper and wrote his message to Yami on that.

'I'm sorry Yami, I guess when I saw you on Kaiba's desk I assumed the worst.'

"It's ok, I can understand." Yami said in a voice only Yugi could hear.

"_Uh…I don't know what to say."_

"Yugi, I need hands!" Yami whined.

"Just a minute, Yami, I need to finish this paragraph."

"Hurry up, I have the best idea ever!" Yugi was sitting at his desk doing homework and Yami was sitting on the bed, looking at his deck, which Yugi had so thoughtfully laid out for him.

"Yugi, Tea's here." Grandpa called from down stairs.

"Hi, Yugi." Tea said from the door. "And Yami, too, if he's in here." Yugi gestured towards the bed. Tea walked over the bed and stared at the mess that was Yami's deck. "Redoing your deck, again?" She asked, smiling slightly.

"Tell her, that any duelist would understand that a deck must be constantly updated." Yami crossed his arms only to uncross them and point at a pile. "And could you tell her to move the Dark Magician there?"

"Er….um…Yami wants you to move the Dark Magician to the pile with Mystical Space Typhoon on top."

"Sure, ok." Tea moved the card, and Yami twitched.

"Not that pile, the other one! Can't she tell Mystical Space Typhoon from Dark Hole?"

"Two to the left, Tea." Tea moved the card and Yami sighed.

"This would be so much easier if I had hands!"

"Alright, I'm finished with my homework now. You can have the body, Yami."

"No! I don't want it now. Not when she's here. She'll want to talk to me!"

"Well, I don't want to act as a go between when she wants to talk to you now!"

"It's alright, you two. If you guys are busy I could come back later." Tea said.

"Yes, yes, go away! I'm very busy. Too busy to talk!" Yami said.

"No, stay Tea. In fact, why don't we go downstairs to have a bite to eat?" Yugi asked.

"And they call me evil."

"Are you coming, Yami?" Tea asked, looking at the bed in the general direction of Yami.

"No."

"He says he'll be down in a minute." Yami listened to them go down the stairs, and followed a minute later. There was no point in being in the room if there was no one to move cards for him.

"Yugi, I came to apologize to Yami. I understand if he doesn't want to go out anymore. I'm not the type of person he's looking for, especially if he's…" here she trailed off, not exactly sure how to say what Yami was. "But I really still want to be friends."

"You shouldn't give up on him just yet."

"Of course she should. You want to go out with her, and you're only pushing her to go out with me because you want to be close to her." Tea turned to stare at Yami, who was at the top of the staircase. Yugi, looking mortified, bolted up the stairs and into his room, slamming the door closed behind him.

"You should leave, Tea." Yami turned and walked up the hall, disappearing from Tea's sight.

"_You don't have to say anything."_


End file.
